Understanding happiness
by The Hills have Dragons
Summary: Recalling the good times he and Hiccup have been through together, Toothless isnt happy and doesn't know why, the duo embarks on a trip encountering many exotic people and dragons. Trip last longer than any other they have been on before, an accident devastates them and gets them stranded on a barren island. Will they be able to get back onto their feet and return home safely?
1. Chapter 1- Reminiscing

Chapter One - Reminiscing

Toothless laid awake on his slab of stone, the rock Hiccup had found in the first week of sleeping in the house. Toothless loved to fall asleep in warm areas, that was why he created plasma rings before lying down. It gave him a sense of comfort in a world where he could be attacked at any moment, but as he slept along with his trainer Hiccup, he no longer had to worry about such things. As Toothless has done this ritual for most of his life, it has grown on him, it was an unbreakable habit.

Toothless couldn't fall asleep. He was thinking about all that had happened in the last 68 months between him and Hiccup. How Hiccup shot him down, only to come back to "rescue" him afterwards. How he'd visit the cove to study Toothless. How he finally built up the courage to approach the night fury. Hiccup used fish, a cod if you will, as an offer to the dragon. Toothless thought this was an unorthodox way to treat a beast that he just shot down. Why he wasn't killed by the viking was beyond him. Toothless stayed awake all night long worrying about the viking returning to cause him harm, to make his village proud. Soon, Toothless found out, Hiccup was not a normal viking. He was… different. Toothless sensed this the second time he was being watched by Hiccup, as Hiccup had carried no weapon, but only a book with him.

Toothless reminisced the day Hiccup created trust with him, that day his admirer came down the cove wall to give him a piece of fish. After the little encounter, Hiccup stayed for hours watching Toothless as the dragon came to realize after waking up from his nap to find the Viking drawing in the sand with a stick. This subconsciously told Toothless that this Viking was about as harmful as a butterfly. How his soul reflected his own. After attempting to draw in the sand himself, for the first time Toothless enjoyed his companion's presence. This was the moment when Hiccup tried to touch him. The intentions of his contact with Toothless was only to study him better and to feel his scales. But for Toothless, this was not allowed. He notices Hiccup's eyes trained on him. He knows that harm could be done to him at anytime. But until Hiccup does something totally unexpected. He turns his head away. And Toothless was blown away. He realizes at this moment, that this viking had put enough trust into him to be completely helpless if the dragon had tried anything. Toothless returned the favor. He closed his eyes and approached Hiccup's hand, resting his snout on top of the human's palm. This was an unforeseen pact they had created, a new blooming friendship that would last forever.

Toothless thought about the time they had first flown together. That day Hiccup brought a basket of various types of fish and a smoked eel. But little did Hiccup know, that, every dragon's fear, was eel. When Toothless saw it, he started hissing at the boy. Hiccup noticed what was going on and then he picked up the eel and threw it into the lake besides them to assuage the dragon, "No, no, no eel!" he said in confirmation. As he began eating the fish, Hiccup crept around behind Toothless. The dragon noticed this, but he knew his human companion meant no harm, mainly because he knew Hiccup had no weapon on him. He had noticed this the morning Hiccup strolled down to the lake. When eating his third piece of fish, Toothless felt something looming over his tail. He knew something was approaching, as dragons have a very keen sense of danger, much more than any other living creature. He moved his tail away, but he still had the sense that something was lingering around. At this point all he just wanted to do, was to eat. He didn't care what the viking was doing. So he let Hiccup attach a strap onto his tail, on the side that had no fin. He kept eating fish, but after finishing the current smoked salmon, he saw no more. He digged his head around inside the basket some more to find that the rest of the fish was gone and he lifted his head up. Now Toothless realized two things. One, there was no more fish. Two, Hiccup had attached some kind of leather onto his tail. He knew how smart vikings were. He knew that this was an artificial fin. Toothless thought, he could finally fly away, get away from the cove and be free. Hiccup mumbled to himself, "That's not too bad, it works." Then, as the basket fell off of Toothless's head, his mouth drops in surprise. The night fury spreaded his giant wings, with the intent of knocking off the viking and leaving the forest. He took off and heard Hiccup yelping in surprise. Flapping his wings as hard as he could, Toothless knew right away this tail was not working. 'Stupid Viking.' No sooner as he had that thought, he realized he was plummeting toward the face of the cliff filled with jagged rocks. But right before he crashed, the tail suddenly sprang to life. He couldn't control it, but it was working. He flew high above the trees. He felt the tail go towards the right, and he followed the lead. He was heading back to the cove. Flying above the water, he turned his head to his tail. 'The Viking!' Toothless realized. The thought of Hiccup still being on his tail never crossed his mind once. With a quick whip of his tail, Toothless sent Hiccup flying into the water. Toothless had not in any way meant to harm the human, just to get him off. Toothless attempted to fly away, but as he tried, the tail kept giving out. He knew it was because of the viking. He knew he could only fly with Hiccup.

Toothless had such a warm feeling about remembering all the good times him and his trainer had experienced. The time the dragons had a cold and Hiccup had flown miles to get the cure. The time Hiccup's father had flown around on him to tend to his village, and help all his people. Eventually Stoik did find a dragon of his own, a thunderdrum. He remembered the time when Hiccup and himself found "the dragon eye" as his trainer puts it. How they battled enemies to retrieve it back after it had been taken. He really liked how he was in control of it. Creating light from a premature plasma blast and directing it towards the pupil of the "eye" had created a large scale map. This invention had taken them through some dark times. But it had also bonded the two quite well. They learned features about themselves that they didn't know about, it only came to light when challenged. They learned how to communicate better. It had taken them all through the land, to eventually claim an island. The edge. Though he thoroughly enjoyed the island, Berk was still his home. Toothless had had some of the best times of his life in the past 5 years. But through all the good times, he still held one dark secret. A secret not only hiccup knew about, one he hoped would never come to light.


	2. Chapter 2- Strange tides

Chapter two- Strange tides

"Hey toooothless." hiccup cooed near the dragons ear. Toothless jerked his head up in surprise. He was quite enjoying his dream, but alas, all good things must come to an end. "Hey bud, we need to go train, Remember? I told you it was today." Toothless looked at the human standing before his bed and gave him a miffed expression. He was rather annoyed they had to get up so early. Toothless groaned as he arose and stretched. He felt the cool air circulate through his once warm body. "Lets saddle up." Hiccup exclaimed as he walked toward the fire and picked up the dragons saddle. "There we go, nice and warm for ya." Hiccup noted when putting it on the night fury.

After flying for a bit in the cold air, the dragon and the boy noticed the sunrise. "Looking beautiful this morning, looks like we'll have good weather for the trip eh?" _'The trip?'_ Toothless wondered. He suspected it was just another fly about, a search for more knowledge. New dragons, new land. Anything hiccup could learn about. That's all hiccup wanted to do after the discovery of the dragon eye. He wanted to learn all of it's secrets, unlock all of its mysteries. Toothless had no problem with this, hiccup did make the decisions. It only bothered him when it interfered with his sleep, but he rather loved the bonding time alone with his trainer. Hiccup as well, loved the alone time with his dragon. No worries about the village, no beckoning father, and most of all, no snotlout or the twins. Every time they were together it was a time bomb of when the next disaster falls.

"Finally! I don't come here on time just to wait for you to get your lazy ass up at the last possible minute." Astrid exclaimed, as toothless landed gracefully before the entrance gates. "You know toothless, just loves his sleep. And you're calling me lazy? I don't see snotlout around." Hiccup mentioned. Just as the last word was spit out of his mouth, the pair heard a yelling emitting throughout the cold spring morning. "It's not my fault you're stupid!" "Oh yea!? How's this for stupid!" Hiccup and Astrid heard while walking toward the entrance of the ring. As soon as they came into view of the commotion, hiccup couldn't hold back a face palm. There before them, stood Ruff with a bruised forehead and Tuff with a bucket on his head stumbling around like a zombie. "Guys would you just settle down, I can't go 5 minutes without a problem from you too." Hiccup had said. Toothless stood from afar watching the kerfuffle. He had always been annoyed in the presence of those two, whether it be in the air or on the ground. Toothless knew this was a waste of time. He knew that it was a matter of time before the two messed something up and ruined training day. "Can we just get started? Wait, where's snotlout?" Hiccup sighed. "I don't know, I thought he was with you guys" Tuff exclaimed with annoyance in his voice. The group waited for a good 15 minutes before hiccup finally exclaimed "I'm going to go find him, he's probably yak tipping again." "I'll come with you." Astrid jumped at the opportunity to avoid the twins. "No, I need you to stay here and make sure these two don't burn the place down." Astrid didn't speak. She looked in horror, gawking at something behind hiccup. Hiccup noticed this with a look of surprise. 'What could it possibly be this time' hiccup thought while turning his body to find himself staring at a bloodied, beaten looking snotlout rushing into the arena.

"Oh my Thor! What happened?!" Hiccup and Astrid said in unison. "They took it! They took the eye!" Was all snotlout could get out, before babbling on about gods knows what. "We need to get you to the medic house immediately!" Hiccup said with worry in his voice. "No! Follow them, get the eye back!" Snotlout screamed. "Hey calm down, follow who? Where did they go?" Hiccup hurriedly asked. "I don't know! I've never seen them before in my life! They went to the north side just go follow them!" Snotlout yelled once more. "I'm going after them, tell my father everything." Hiccup said while running toward his dragon. "Hiccup, you can't leave me here! You could be killed!" Astrid mentioned. She was very obviously worried about the departure. "I have to get the eye!"

"Hiccup wait!" Astrid ran toward hiccup, embracing him once she came into contact with. "Be safe" she murmured, before pecking his lips. Hiccup was both stunned and worried. He didn't know what to say, he just stood there in awe, until toothless garbled at him annoyed at the delay. "I will" hiccup finally said before jumping on toothless's back and flying out the arena.

Toothless flew in silence. He could sense hiccup's worry, and he knew this wouldn't end well once the enemies were met. The only problem toothless had with this departure was the danger they were putting themselves in. He would do anything to protect hiccup, and he felt rather guilty putting his trainer in such a unfortunate situation. And for what? A golden and brass cylinder. "This can't be good, this isn't going to end well" Toothless said to hiccup. "I know bud, I don't even know where to start. Just keep following the strangers scent." Hiccup said whilst patting the dragons neck. Toothless always got frustrated when hiccup couldn't understand him, it made him feel less helpful. Not entirely useless, but not entirely useful. The conversation was always one sided. Although he did appreciate his trainers intellectual ability, it just gets to the point where he needs to be alone, usually goes for a walk, which calms him down.

Toothless was getting exhausted. He garbled over the hissing wind, "I need to rest." Hiccup in turn, rested his body on the dragons back. Toothless felt how cold hiccup was. He tried to radiate more heat toward hiccup's area. This was getting hard to do, seeing how tired he actually was. They had been flying all day, and nearing enemy territory. 'Best we stay around the outskirts' toothless thought. They flew for another ten minutes before toothless spotted land ahead. As toothless swiftly glided down to the top of the tree line, trying to find a place to land, hiccup awoke from his daydream. "Hey toothless we have to keep going, I need that eye. Who knows what those people are planning." Toothless had gotten so frustrated, mentally and physically exhausted as well as colder, he didn't care about hiccup's demands at the moment. He needed his sleep. The night fury swooped down to the edge of a cliff, where a cave seemed to lie. "Hey cmon toothless, I need you to keep going!" Hiccup said with a bit of annoyance. Toothless in turn gave a resounding snort. 'I'm resting and there's nothing you can do about it.' Exasperated, hiccup yelled at toothless. "Why can't you just help me out here?! We need that eye, I'm finding those people if it's the last thing I do!" As soon as the words left his mouth, hiccup was surprised at himself. Why was he so uptight? Toothless was resentful. He landed and shook hiccup off him, before storming off into the distant tree line. "Hey wait! I'm sorry Toothless, I..I- before he could finish, hiccup was met with loneliness, He was talking to thin air. "Fine! I can make it through the night!" Hiccup called out into the darkness. The silence was deafening.

Hiccup was on strange tides. He knew nothing about the proximity of dangers that awaited him and his dragon afar from the cave and little amount of forest. Hiccup started into the cave, expecting toothless to come back soon. He gathered some wood for a fire, and searched the cave. Empty. As he got his bed of moss ready, it had been about an hour. Toothless had shown no signs of himself. Hiccup got the fire going from a simple flint stick, one his father have to him when they first started travelling. Hiccup just sat there and waited, and waited, and waited. Once he fed the fire for the last time, he began sobbing uncontrollably. 'Why do I have to be such an asshole! Your dragon hates you, you stupid explorer' hiccup thought through tears. He knew he had taken these trips too far. The search for new lenses as well as information, was causing a depression in his friendships, And in his social life as well. This could've been all avoided if he could just learn to chill. Enjoy his early life. All this time hiccup was unaware of the jade green eyes watching him from afar. A tree near the cave entrance held a black dragon named Toothless. The night fury so desperately wanted to comfort his best friend, It really tore him apart to watch this unfold. But he couldn't, he just couldn't come crawling back for emotional comfort. Hiccup needed to learn his lesson. He needed alone time. He waited until hiccup fell asleep before entering the cave. He knew he shouldn't leave hiccup shivering, but his plasma blast to light the fire would wake the poor boy up. Against his better judgment, toothless approached hiccup and crawled in next to him, laying his wing across his friend. 'You need to learn. You can't keep pushing your friends and family away' Toothless so desperately wanted to tell hiccup. He could, but that would require toothless to reveal something he never, ever wanted anyone to know about. His transformative nature. No one knew he could become a hybrid, and no one would ever find out. Those were the last thoughts toothless had before falling into a deep slumber. ~


End file.
